Wednesday, June 3, 2009

I screwed up today's internal piano exam. Terribly. It'll be super lucky if I managed to scrape a pass. I can't believe it. My mind suddenly just blanked out and I started playing wrong notes for songs that I thought i was confident of. But then again, I'm ready to blame the piano for all the mistakes. Sitting there in front of the piano, I could barely hear any dynamics differences. Hmph.

I can't bring myself to start on my holiday work. My table's a mess, my mind's whirling, and all I can think of is to play. Interestingly enough, I realised that only my first week is filled up with stuff to do. Then it all ends on Friday. Monday was Chinese extra lesson and French Exchange Programme talk, Tuesday was SMO, today was piano exam, tomorrow's a treat-it-like-your-last-day-of-your-life day, and Friday's the operation. Correction. The Operation. I can't believe I'm treating it like the last day of life. Maybe I am, that's why I'm not bothering with my work. I most certainly hope that I'm not conscious while the operation is going on.

***

There were 10 people crowding around me. All of them were covered from head to toe in garments of green. Except their eyes. Those eyes, wide with...anticipation, or was that fear?

The surgeon tapped his fingers impatiently on the cold metal surface on which I was lying on while everyone was scrambling around for no apparent reason. There was no time for this. 2 hours for 8 teeth is a terribly short time. He snapped his fingers. A blinding light shone right into my eyes. Reflex made me stare at into the darkness of the room instead of my closing my eyes. Reflex trained from frequent eye checks thanks to my contact lenses. He snapped his fingers yet again. Another man stepped out from the shadows, holding a syringe. Was he the anaesthetist?

Push push.

He was pushing the plunger unconsciously. A stream of clear liquid that looked vaguely like water was being pushed out in a steady stream, much like water flowing out of a tap, only upside down. My mouth was forced open and in went the syringe, and before I could register that movement, the syringe was gone, replaced by a terrible numbness in my gums. The surgeon snapped his fingers again. One of those people in green passed him a sharp metallic object. Soon enough, the taste of metal was pressing hard against my tongue. The hard metallic object tasted weird. But there was also something else. Something that was liquid. Something that tasted like iron. Something that tasted red. The distinct taste of something that was red. My face must have lost its colour, my eyes wide with terror, for there was a hint of sympathy in the cold hard eyes of the surgeon. But there was no time for sympathy. He hazarded a quick glance towards the clock hung to his left.

110 minutes more to go.

***

Not surprised why Pat says I need to brush up on my writing skills. But heck. I've already written it and you may as well laugh at it now. Can you just imagine lying down for 2 hours, CONSCIOUS, and your mouth open? Ugh.

And we've already got to know who our French buddies are. I think this system is way better than that of OIP. I feel more comfortable now, knowing that the exchange programme can't possibly be as scary as I imagined it to be. Thank goodness we were paired up based on interest. (: I'm guessing it's more to the music part. Yo Matthieu (if you happen to chance upon this blog xD)

36 hours left.

Wesley at 8:53 PM